San Francisco: Renovated library reopens

Western Addition branch reflects diversity of neighborhood

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, February 3, 2008

Photo: Deanne Fitzmaurice

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The Jing Mo Lion Dancers entertained and Mayor Gavin Newsom came to celebrate the opening of the Western Addition branch library. Photographed in San Francisco on 2/2/08. Deanne Fitzmaurice / The Chronicle

The Jing Mo Lion Dancers entertained and Mayor Gavin Newsom came to celebrate the opening of the Western Addition branch library. Photographed in San Francisco on 2/2/08. Deanne Fitzmaurice / The Chronicle

Photo: Deanne Fitzmaurice

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Mayor Newsom looks at new services the library offers. The Jing Mo Lion Dancers entertained and Mayor Gavin Newsom came to celebrate the opening of the Western Addition branch library. Photographed in San Francisco on 2/2/08. Deanne Fitzmaurice / The Chronicle less

Mayor Newsom looks at new services the library offers. The Jing Mo Lion Dancers entertained and Mayor Gavin Newsom came to celebrate the opening of the Western Addition branch library. Photographed in San ... more

Photo: Deanne Fitzmaurice

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Liliana Yee-Rodriguez (cq) and Jaimel Hamadalla, both with the Jing Mo Lion Dancers, keep warm while waiting for the start of the program. they have been dating for two years. The Jing Mo Lion Dancers entertained and Mayor Gavin Newsom came to celebrate the opening of the Western Addition branch library. Photographed in San Francisco on 2/2/08. Deanne Fitzmaurice / The Chronicle less

Liliana Yee-Rodriguez (cq) and Jaimel Hamadalla, both with the Jing Mo Lion Dancers, keep warm while waiting for the start of the program. they have been dating for two years. The Jing Mo Lion Dancers ... more

Photo: Deanne Fitzmaurice

San Francisco: Renovated library reopens

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Hundreds of Western Addition residents gathered in the pouring rain Saturday afternoon for the opening of their newly renovated library.

It was a celebration as much about the books as it was a tribute to a neighborhood - an eclectic community trying to preserve diverse strands of history. And the library, several people said, was the place where it all comes together.

The branch library holds one of the Bay Area's largest Japanese-language collections as well as an African American collection. The library, on Scott Street at Geary Boulevard, is also near several senior housing complexes, which include a significant Jewish population.

"This branch library, more than any other in the city, creates bridges between cultures, interests and community groups," said Donna Bero, executive director of the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, a nonprofit organization that does extensive fundraising and other work to support the city's libraries.

Bero's nonprofit coordinates community participation so that each branch reflects the needs of its neighborhood. In the Western Addition, she said, residents wanted the library to be a place where they could all come together - and various groups have chipped in.

While cities around the Bay Area and the nation have been cutting back on library hours, San Francisco voters and politicians keep supporting the library system, year after year.

The renovation of the Western Addition branch was one of two dozen that have been completed or are under way in the city, paid for by a $105.9 million bond measure approved by voters in 2000.

The library expanded areas for teens and younger children, increased the number of computers, added free Wi-Fi access and retrofitted the building. Private fundraising in the neighborhood also netted more than $225,000.

John Templeton, who has been involved in city library issues for several years, beamed during the opening ceremonies - which featured such speakers as Mayor Gavin Newsom, state Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, and the neighborhood's supervisor, Ross Mirkarimi.

Templeton was proud that the renovation of the branch responded to the neighborhood's needs.

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"The history has been that you improve the neighborhood and get rid of the people who are here," he said, referring to how the redevelopment of the Fillmore district drove out much of the area's African American community. "It's important to make sure that we didn't do that in this case."

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